The Tamien Station area housing project is located in San Jose's District 3. The area takes up 140 acres and is bounded by Willow and Little Orchard streets, Lick and Alma avenues, a portion of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and the Guadalupe River. Highway 87 bisects the area and crosses into part of northern Willow Glen, including the Gardner and Guadalupe-Washington neighborhoods.

The city's objectives are to develop the area, which features a light rail station and Caltrain station in close proximity, into a high-density housing project that can accommodate various income levels, encourage the use of public transportation and make "efficient use and reuse of land," according to the 1995 Tamien Station Area Specific Plan.

Already the city council has approved a request from developer Barry Swenson to increase the height of the project from 65 feet to 120 feet. The existing buildings on the site, which include the Elks Lodge and the Alma Bowl, are considerably below the original maximum allowed height of 65 feet.

Swenson has also asked for a change in the land use from "mixed use" to "transit corridor residential." Mixed-use areas are designed for high-density housing and commercial uses, while transit corridor residential areas are developed for high- and very-high-density housing near the public transportation stations. It allows for commercial use on the first two floors of a building, but such use is not a requirement.

The council voted unanimously to approve the changes at its April 15 meeting but voted to deny the planning commission's recommendation to wait until the next General Plan public hearing—scheduled in the summer—on the land use amendment.

The Willow Glen portion of the Tamien Station Area project includes the land parcels occupied by the Elks Lodge and the former Alma Bowl bowling center. The combined area of the parcels is approximately 10 acres.

At least one representative each from the neighborhood associations of Willow Glen, north Willow Glen and Goodyear/Mastic addressed the council, claiming they weren't provided with enough prior notification about public hearings or community meetings regarding this project.

"What we're really worried about is that this could set a bad precedent," said Ed Rast, a north Willow Glen resident who represented the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association at the meeting. Normally the city mails public hearing notices to residents living within 1,000 feet of a project this large. Rast said that during the drafting of the specific plan in 1995, there was far more community involvement from residents who lived more than 1,000 feet from the project.

Alison England, president of the North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association, said that despite the council declining to wait until summer to hear this issue, at least the council knows that neighborhoods want more involvement with city decisions.

"Considering how far along this project is, a deferral was all we could hope to ask for, anyway," England said. "But as long as the council is made aware that there are other neighborhood organizations out there that are really weighing in on this thing and will voice their objections—maybe not about the project but about the process"—it will keep the neighborhood associations involved.

Planning consultant Gary Schoennauer, who applied for the land use changes, said, "These changes don't have a significant effect at all" on the nearby neighborhoods. Because the Tamien Station area is unique in that it has both light rail and Caltrain stations, the city envisions high-density housing "and, more importantly, to create a community."

This segment of the city's General Plan is another step toward the completion of the Tamien Station project, which began eight years ago. But neighborhood associations still have long-term issues with the project, such as building heights, the density of dwelling units per acre, and the setback widths of walkways between building entrances and streets. The neighbors have also said that high buildings may create invasion of privacy issues with the nearby homeowners. They also see denser housing creating traffic congestion.

Rast contends that the lack of neighborhood associations' involvement with the city's plans violates the council's own policy regarding specific plans, which states that specific plans "should be developed with the advice of a task force." The policy notes that neighborhood organizations may be included in the task force.

The "may" allows for too much flexibility for the council to ignore neighborhood associations, Rast said.

United Neighborhoods of Santa Clara County concurs with Rast. Addressing the specific plan policy and exploring ways to have more inclusion in major projects will be a major agenda topic at the United Neighborhoods' next advisory council meeting, scheduled for May 21.

For more information about the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association, write PO Box 7706, San Jose, 95150-7706, call 408.294.9462 or visit http://www.wgna.net.

For more information about the North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association, write c/o City of San Jose Neighborhood Services, 136 W. Alma Ave., San Jose, 95110, call 408.297.9135 or visit http://www.north willowglen.org.

For more information about United Neighborhoods of Santa Clara County, write 525 W. Alma Ave., San Jose, 95125, call 408.286.8661 or visit http://www.unscc.org. United Neighborhoods' next advisory meeting is scheduled for May 21, 7 p.m., at its mailing address.